Examples

Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of epigenomic regulation, and the extent of its importance in nature, are far from complete, but in spite of such drawbacks, population-level studies are extremely valuable: epigenomic regulation is involved in several processes central to evolutionary biology including phenotypic plasticity, evolvability and the mediation of intragenomic conflicts.

Pseudogenes, satellite DNA, transposable elements (45% of our genome), and other non-coding sequences may or may not be functional – that requires evidence – and some may exist as a result of accidental duplication or even due to selection at the level of the elements themselves (by “intragenomic selection”).